Eating healthy is expensive.

I find Lotte much less expensive for produce.

Anonymous wrote:OP, have you had to buy some of the basic pantry items as well, like spices and condiments that can be pricey but take a very long time to use? That may be some of the potential cost savings. Not sure if it would work for you but I have a friend with a Costco membership and I join her for a shopping trip once a month to buy things like huge bags of rice and olive oil and canned tomatoes and beans. I only buy the things we use frequently and it works for us.

Yes, I do get through a lot of the "basic pantry items" so that may be part of it too. I've avoided Costco so far because I didn't want to end up buying a ton in bulk and it going to waste, but your suggestion on buying rice, olive oil and canned goods is a good one. Perhaps I can save on cereal there too?! The trick there will be to make sure that I don't end up spending more on things I don't really need because they are cheap or look tasty!

OP, have you had to buy some of the basic pantry items as well, like spices and condiments that can be pricey but take a very long time to use? That may be some of the potential cost savings. Not sure if it would work for you but I have a friend with a Costco membership and I join her for a shopping trip once a month to buy things like huge bags of rice and olive oil and canned tomatoes and beans. I only buy the things we use frequently and it works for us.

Anonymous wrote:Not to derail the thread, but can you say more about thefresh20? Looks great, but they dont' have any sample plans up. How long does it take you to prep and cook the dinners? Do you think it's worth it?

You can get sample plans but you have to register first. I did that and to be honest, didn't love the sample week they offered, but ended up signing up anyway and am glad I did. Here's an example of the recipes for a week (this is the vegetarian plan):

?
KIDNEY BEAN STEW
Crispy Kale and Farro (I wasn't a huge fan of the bean stew, but that may be my tastes. Crispy kale and farro was good) ?

CHICKPEA COUSCOUS &
BALSAMIC ONIONS (I added shrimp to this as I'm not fully vegetarian and it was delicious - really good!)
Roasted asparagus

APPLE & LEEK SOUP
Cheese quesadillas & Berries (Big hit with the kids)
?
GOAT CHEESE, COUSCOUS
AND KALE SALAD (This one actually got my 3 year old eating kale)
?
SPINACH STRATA (Also very tasty - 1 year old wouldn't stop eating it).
Fresh berries

Often something that you prepare as part of Monday's meal will end up becoming part of the meal on Wednesday (though not the case on the week above). The PDF has one page of shopping list, plus one page for "make ahead" which outlines what to do at the beginning of the week. The make ahead time can vary from nothing or almost nothing to about an hour and a half. Then almost all the meals are done in 30 minutes and often less. There have been a couple of times that it's taken 40 minutes. The spinach strata above was in the oven for about 30 minutes I think so it obviously took more like 40 all together.

One downside is that ingredients will repeat during the week (so that you use everything you buy) and if one of those ingredients is something you don't much care for then you could end up having it two or three times that week in one way or another. Sometimes there are suggestions for substitutions, but if you can cook you'll have some ideas of your own. I add fish or shrimp occasionally, often when the recipe calls for cannellini beans and it's worked well. Occasionally there will be an ingredient that you wouldn't normally use or that sounds like an odd combination. Every time I've seen that and gone with it it's been completely worth it and has added something to the meal. There are often Mexican style foods on the menus which were not a usual part of my repertoire before this, and I am absolutely a convert. I made a really delicious nectarine salsa the other day, for example and the tostados I made recently were also a big hit.

We started on the monthly plan ($5 a month) and recently switched to annual ($40 or so, I think) because it gives access to the archives which is good if you want more choice what to cook for the week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

Looks like a lot of people questioned my $25-40 for four. Sorry to keep folks waiting, but work got in the way. My family of four includes twin toddlers who share either a kid's meal or a selection of sides. We do a lot of fast food and cheaper sit down places, so we don't spend a huge amount on restaurant food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

Shame OP is vegetarian, otherwise they could save on meat. Talk about a win-win.

+ OP could knit the cat hair into useful items for the homeless.

I'd start buying in bulk for paper products and dry good or doing the Target card. Skip Teeter, unless you shop the sales. Way too overpriced.

You must have been eating a lot of fast food for the difference to be so small. It's still worth it for the health benefit. Also, the more you do it the better you will get. Don't give up after only two months.

Not to derail the thread, but can you say more about thefresh20? Looks great, but they dont' have any sample plans up. How long does it take you to prep and cook the dinners? Do you think it's worth it?

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

Shame OP is vegetarian, otherwise they could save on meat. Talk about a win-win.

*package

Well, you also can't discount the fact that grocery prices have gone up and in pre-packaged things like cereal and cookies, the volume of the pakage has decreased.

Cereal though is one thing I usually find decent coupons for and I wait until the store has a 2/$5 sale and use the coupon on top of that and buy 4 boxes at once.

Anonymous wrote:Are you cooking using specific recipes, where you go out and buy all the required ingredients for the specific things you want to make, or are you more of an improvisational cook who uses what is on hand?

Becoming the later made a big difference in our grocery bill. I can buy whatever is on sale in terms of produce and patch together dinners for much less than when I was trying to make specific recipes (the ingredients for which may or may not have been on sale). I'm not organized enough to do a lot of menu planning ahead of time, but we stock up on grains and beans at Costco (and some frozen seafood), have eggs and cheese in the fridge, herbs in the garden, and basic vinegars, oils and spices on-hand. I basically force myself to cook with whatever is there, and it's worked out surprisingly well and kept us from spending extra money. I do all of our shopping on the weekend, and unless we're having friends over or run out of milk, I don't let myself go back to the store until the following weekend. Those small trips add up!

If you're not used to cooking much, it might take a little while to get to the point where you can just throw things together easily, but it will come.

That's what I used to do and was why we ate out so much. I'd end up looking in the fridge and the cupboards and the freezer and not feel inspired. I am a good cook but I never planned enough to work out what I needed in advance. So I'd throw things together and sometimes they'd be good and sometimes they'd be quick to make and other times they'd take forever or they would need a little extra X with X being something I was out of. I also found that I frequently ended up throwing away veggies because they would go off before I remembered to use them all. Another downside would be that I'd come home and have to decide what to cook while completely exhausted and without a ton of choices and with my head stuck in the 5-10 meals that I made regularly because they worked well for our family. Hence way more than often I'd either turn to something from the freezer (not ready made meals, but meal that are at least partially processed) or we'd go out. With two kids under 3 and a full time job it was making me exhausted and miserable.

We now meal plan using thefresh20.com and, it's a bit corny to say it, but it's changed my life. I look forward to making dinner. Not every meal is a hit but most are. It's got me out of my cooking rut. We're trying tons of new things and they all taste really fresh. In fact, now I prefer to eat at home because the food is better. the one area that it's failed me on though, is saving money. I was convinced that we'd reduce our bills but it just hasn't happened. Most of the produce I buy for these meals is not expensive. (With the exception of the volume of olive oil used!) So it's really the extras that are adding up. I think I'll take the PPs advice and try to coupon for things like paper products, cat litter, shampoo etc. Now, if only I can persuade my husband and kids to eat healthier cereal that I can buy in bulk!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

Don't you dare touch my pussy!

Haha. OP here. You could convince me but my husband is very fond of the cat!

Happy marriage when husband is very fond of the pussy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think you're shopping as wisely as you could be. Also, you should get rid of the cat. No more cat food OR cat litter. Plus, less cleaning supplies to clean up cat hairs. Win-win.

Don't you dare touch my pussy!

Haha. OP here. You could convince me but my husband is very fond of the cat!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The question though is when you are comparing to your previous spending, were you including the extra groceries (e.g. TP, cat litter, kitchen rolls) separately from the food? You should be comparing food costs before and after without including the household supplies. Olive oil counts, but the rest are household supplies that you would/should be buying either way. I've found that when our family of four goes out, we spend between $25-40 for a single meal. When we eat at home, $75 of groceries will last us 2-3 days (average 2 meals a day, so 4 meals). So for $75 for two meals or four meals? I can definitely see the difference.

Where do you eat for a family of 4 for $25-40??

Seriously. I would love to know. With just the 2 of us and a 2.5 year old, we rarely spend less than $60, usually closer to $75-$100 if we each have a drink after all tax and tip is included.

Seriously??

OP here, we are a family of 4 (though the youngest is just 1) and we spend about $40-60 when we eat out as a family, or sometimes less. Everything I buy at the grocery store is through meal planning and it typically costs about $50-60 for five evening meals for 4 (that means leftovers for lunch most days as the kids don't eat adult portions). It seems that it's all the other things that add up, including the $4 a box cereal that my husband insists we need, all the milk and nuts and bread and fruit for the kids, some occasional ice cream and cookies plus all the household items I previously mentioned etc. BUT we always had that before so I'm at a loss to work out why we aren't saving more.